Dolphins rookie Ced Thompson has overcome, overachieved

In a profession where everyone is living the dream, few are doing it to the extent of Dolphins rookie safety Ced Thompson, a fifth-round pick from Minnesota.

"To be here," Thompson said during rookie minicamp, "coming from L.A., living a really rough childhood growing up, and then going to Bombay Beach living in a population where it's a maybe 100 people and everything is abandoned ... and the water is polluted and everything.

"Oh, man, I can't really put into words how I feel. It's an unbelievable feeling."

Thompson was steeled by extreme circumstances.

He used to wake up at 4 a.m. to take a two-hour bus ride to high school. After a cousin was shot and killed, his parents wanted to escape gang-riddled South Central Los Angeles so badly they moved to Bombay Beach, Ca., a barren, desolate patch of land in the Sonoran Desert with a population of about 300.

The Miami Dolphins on Friday assigned jersey numbers to their 2015 draft picks.

The bus would pick up 10 kids in Bombay Beach and then wind through Southern California's hot, arid mountains and coves to pick up another eight kids.

"The worst part," Thompson said, "was having no A/C on the bus."

It was a tough life in Bombay Beach, a town with no gas station or hospital. But it was better than living in South Central Los Angeles, where young men tried to stave off death, not boredom.

"That's the environment where I was from," Thompson said. "When you're walking down the street going to school you were looking behind your back because you don't know what's going to happen."

Thompson's story was deemed so compelling that he was one of three subjects in a documentary entitled "Bombay Beach" that won Best Documentary Feature at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.

"I haven't watched the film in a long time," he said, "but every time I do there's a lot of different emotions that go through there for me going through all that hard work, living with my dad, and really all the things I had to do get up out of there."

Thompson, who became an Academic All-Big Ten selection after becoming the first in his family to graduate high school, is viewed by the Dolphins as mostly as a special teams playerat this point.

Safety is among the Dolphins' deepest positions with starters Reshad Jones and Louis Delmas being backed up by Michael Thomas, Walt Aikens, Don Jones, and Jordan Kovacs. It'll be tough for Thompson to creep up that depth chart, but he says that's not a major concern of his.

"The depth chart is not really something I'm worried about," he said, "because if I go out here and do my job and give 100 percent effort every day, whatever my role may be will take care of itself."

Thompson ranked second on his team at Minnesota with 83 tackles last season (he also had two interceptions). As a junior in 2013, he led the Gophers with 79 tackles.

"Late in the draft these are the types of guys that you want to add to your roster," said Chris Grier, the Dolphins' director of college scouting.

"He's a guy that finishes drills, listens well, follows directions, wants to do things the way you coach it," Philbin said. "Obviously there are a lot of things to correct, but I think he's shown those attributes that we thought he had."

Thompson, whose younger brother, Tedric, is a sophomore defensive back at Colorado, is confident he can continue to make his NFL dream come true. He's somewhat of a longshot to make the roster, but he's not deterred.

After all, he's made it this far — from South Central Los Angeles to Bombay Beach to Minnesota and now to Miami.

"When I put my mind on something I want to do," Thompson said, "no matter what it is, no matter what obstacle you put in front of me, if I know my ultimate goal is to do that, I'm going to do it."